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Salem Arts Festival Fundraiser— Celebrate Our Growth!

Salem Dining, Salem Event, Salem Festivals, SMS News, Volunteer Opportunities No Responses »

Apr 042015

A work of art is oft times a labor of love, so very true when it comes to the annual Salem Arts Festival. It takes time, planning, volunteers and your support to mount this fabulous popular free event which features over 60 artists and performers, and includes a variety of art, music, dance, and poetry performances. The Festival is set for June 5-7, 2015 and you are invited to join us for the Second Annual Salem Arts Festival Fundraiser this Thursday, April 9, 7:30-10:30 pm, for a night of local food, fashion, drink, dancing, and fun to support the Salem Arts Festival. Location will be at Old Town Hall at 32 Derby Square.

“The need for financial support is critical for the success of the festival, which doubled in size last year and welcomed over 5,000 attendees,” explains Kylie Sullivan, Manager of Salem Main Streets (SMS), the community non-profit organization which started the Festival. “We are committed to keeping the festival free and open to the public, but that means we need to raise some substantial funds.”

She adds, “Last year’s fundraiser was such an incredible party; it was the perfect way to introduce the renewed energy behind the Salem Arts Festival .”

We think this year’s fundraiser will kick off things on a high note as well.

The opening act will be Multiple Guys with Noise Machines, a group of teenage musicians that’s an offshoot of North Shore Jazz Project All Stars – – hooray for young musicians!

Party band, The Ward Eights will be returning again this year to get you on the dance floor.

Local boutiques will be participating in an onsite Fashion Show, including J. Mode, Ocean Chic Boutique, Addicted Fashions, The Boutique, and more! Make up will be provided by Rouge Cosmetics.

Food will be provided by The Lobster Shanty, Flying Saucer Pizza Company, the Hawthorne Hotel, Front Street Coffeehouse, and more to be announced soon.

The event will also include a number of great raffle prizes!

Tickets are $25 per person with a cash bar; proceeds directly benefit the Salem Arts Festival. Purchase by calling 978-744-0004 x15, visit 265 Essex Street (Salem MainStreets office), or go online.

The Salem Arts Festival is conducted as a collaboration of Salem Main Streets and a team of dedicated volunteers, including representatives from Creative Salem, Salem State University, the Peabody Essex Museum, and others.

The Salem Arts Festival is supported in part by a grant from the Salem Cultural Council, a local agency which is supported by the Massachusetts Cultural Council, a state agency.

Last year this fundraising event sold out – so get your tickets early, get ready to dance and feel like a real patron of the arts!

(In fact, if you’re interested in sponsoring the Salem Arts Festival Find out more at http://salemartsfestival.com/sponsorship/ ).

(All pictures courtesy of Social Palates)

Twelfth Night Reaches Beyond The Stage

Salem Event No Responses »

Mar 312015

Community is a key element both on-stage and off in the current production of William Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night by the Salem Theatre. Running now through April 12th, it is a story of a community upended by a shipwreck and how those involved take to comedy and music to solve their dilemmas. And as a city almost entirely surrounded by the sea, Salem provides extra backdrop. But the Salem Theatre is also providing a community initiative: for every sold out performance (as last Saturday’s was) it will provide a performance to a local school, free of charge.

Who says Shakespeare can’t be relevant in the 21st century?

If you are not familiar with the play, it focuses on the hilarious and wild chaos caused by twins, Viola and Sebastian, displaced by the shipwreck. Salem Theatre’s production is directed by Artistic Director Matthew Gray who has stated that while parts of songs are used in many of Shakespeare’s other plays, those in Twelfth Night are sung in their entirety, thus contributing to the story.

The set is sparse, a few benches, a few props, a piano. There is sadness, comedy, and Shakespearean characters defined by their circumstances, all confined to a space that might seem like the hull of a 17th century ship.

Cast members include Salem residents and returning to the Salem Theatre stage Caroline Watson-Felt, Chris Martel and Ariane Grosse; members of Salem’s classical theatre troupe, Upstart Crows Diana Dunlap and Keith Trickett; and Rachel MacAskill, Zachary Reardon, Francis Norton and Christopher Noran.

Performances are on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 pm, and Saturdays and Sundays at 3 pm. Key dates to note:

Thursday, April 2: Student Night – $5 tickets available for all students
Thursday, April 9: LGTB Night – Discount Tickets offered.

Salem Theatre will also update daily the seating capacity for each show; if you want to see Twelfth Night and are open on the date, you might consider booking a near sell-out night to help activate the community initiative for school children.

Additional details are available at www.salemtheatre.com. Performances are held at 90 Lafayette Street.

(Photo courtesy CMB Photography)

Night at the Museum— For Real at Salem’s PEM

Salem Event, Salem Festivals, Workshops No Responses »

Mar 222015

Over 600 people decided that what Artopia had to offer was something they wanted to experience. Thursday’s PEM/PM monthly late night party at the Peabody Essex Museum was a grand old time and if we may say, an artistic success for all the community groups that came together to create the schedule of events.

Attendees were invited to…

… contribute to a fiber arts project by knitting spring flowers with the folks from the Salem Arts Festival (a Salem Main Streets project)… sit and sketch with local group Sketch Collective… drum along with Express Yourself… catch Salem Sketches — short films created right here in Salem — which screened at recent Salem Film Fest… create your own instrument with Salem Jazz & Soul… and enjoy a 15-minute gallery experience highlighting some “ordinary” gems in the museum’s Japanese art collection.

And there was much more. Music that excited and moved the crowd from Ross Livermore Band. Front Yard Street Art, a collaborative fiber arts project open to community members and groups of all ages and abilities certainly attracted a lot of attention.

Hats off to Creative Salem, the Salem Arts Festival and, of course, the Peabody Essex Museum. Producing an event to attract over 600 people on a weeknight certainly indicates that art is not only alive & well in Salem— it also delivers an exciting environment.

(Video produced by JoeyPhoenixPhotography.com by way of CreativeSalem.com)

The Arts Are Alive, Well & Thriving in Salem – at Artopia

Salem Event, Salem Festivals, Workshops 1 Response »

Mar 182015

Vibrant and creative are words to define the arts & culture scene of Salem — and those words will take physical shape this Thursday from 6-9 pm as Artopia takes over the monthly PEM/PM event, hosted by the Peabody Essex Museum.

Now, this blog may shake a little as you read it because we at Salem Main Streets are very excited about Artopia as so many local groups and festivals are involved! It is a real coming together of the community.

“The theme of this event is ‘Art in the Everyday,’ which is part of why we’re playing a lot with the creation of art and elevating ‘ordinary’ objects or activities,” reveals Kylie Sullivan, Main Streets Manager.

For example… contribute to a fiber arts project by knitting spring flowers with the folks from the Salem Arts Festival… sit and sketch with local group Sketch Collective… drum along with Express Yourself… catch Salem Sketches — short films created right here in Salem — which screened at recent Salem Film Fest… create your own instrument with Salem Jazz & Soul… and enjoy a 15-minute gallery experience highlighting some “ordinary” gems in the museum’s Japanese art collection.

For Artopia, PEM is partnering with the Salem Arts Festival and Creative Salem to super-charge this celebration. PEM/PMs are held on the 3rd Thursday of every month as a way to introduce and invite the community to utilize the resource that PEM is to the community.

Adds John Andrews of Creative Salem, “There will be roaming performance artists including members of ARTiculate this. Featured live artists will be Denny Tentindo, Ben Stebbings and Jamie O’Neil. Also at our Creative Salem table, we’ll have Allison White doing a needlepoint demo.”

The evening, as with all PEM/PM events, includes music, cocktails and conversation with separate stations for creativity. But Artopia doesn’t stop there.

Local author and meatball aficionado Adeline Myers, will discuss her recently published cookbook Global Meatballs and even prepare a couple of her favorite recipes. A well-crafted meatball can be a work of art!

Beer lovers can glean creative brewing insights from Newburyport Brewing Company and sample its locally brewed and appropriately named beers: Newburyport Pale Ale, Plum Island Belgian White and Green Head IPA.

And as they say, “that’s not all folks” as the evening will also feature North Shore-based Ross Livermore Band. A local favorite, the band has toured throughout New England and beyond and was recently nominated for Best in State in the New England Music Awards.

One other item to note, and of personal interest to those of us at Salem Main Streets and the Salem Arts Festival, is the Front Yard Street Art project.

Front Yard Street Art is a collaborative fiber arts project open to community members and groups of all ages and abilities. Create your own “green space” (field, garden plot, jungle, etc.) made of yarn, felt, fabric, and whatever else inspires you! Each piece will become part of a large-scale temporary art installation transforming Front Street during the Salem Arts Festival weekend.

Examples created by the students at the Phoenix School in Salem, will be on display Thursday evening as well.

And what is the cost of admission for this extravaganza? For PEM members and Salem residents (with ID) it is free of charge. For nonmembers, it is only $10 at the door. PEM is located at 161 Essex St., Salem Ma. For more info go to www.pem.org or call 978-745-9500.

Artopia is a most creative reason to venture out into the evening.

(Phoenix School photo courtesy Joey Phoenix)

Behind the Scenes: Nathaniel and Sophia Hawthorne

History, Salem Event, Workshops No Responses »

Mar 092015

Local historian and lecturer Jim McAllister (who recently was designated as the “Official Historian of the City of Salem Ma”) will present the latest installment of his “52 Lectures, 52 Weeks” series Tuesday, March 10 at the Salem Witch Museum. The subject is Nathaniel Hawthorne, Salem native and well known author of The House of Seven Gables and The Scarlet Letter. But, McAllister has a twist on the normal Hawthorne/book discussion. He will focus on Hawthorne as a partner in one 19th century America’s greatest romances as it unfolded in the shadow of Washington Square. (The Salem Witch Museum is coincidentally at 19½ Washington Square North.)

Apparently it was “bizarre” and involved compacted romantic entanglements with Mary Silsbee and Elizabeth Peabody in the year that preceded his involvement with his future wife, Sophia Peabody, sister of Elizabeth.

Sophia, also born in Salem Ma, was an accomplished painter, illustrator, and an author of articles.

McAllister’s talk will chronicle important moments in Nathaniel and Sophia’s courtship. He will escort you on a journey through the couple’s good days and bad ones over the course of their two-decade long marriage.

With the weather showing no snow in the forecast, if you’re looking to venture out of your “cabins,” this discussion offers a warm invitation. It will run from 7:30 – 9 pm. But, due to space limitations, most of McAllister’s lectures require reservations. For more information please write to culturecorner@gmail.com or call 978-979-5907.

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